Usage 0.4.x

For older version please refer to doc/usage/0.3.x.

Using NSClient++ is pretty straight forward it is a normal command line program wich works similarly to cvs and git and various other module based commands. That means that the first given argument is a "mode" or "module" or whatever you want to call it. Regardless of name it will dictate which options are available and which actions will be taken.

The modes which are currently in 0.4.x is:

• client Run as a client useful for accessing and controlling remote hosts as well as trying out commands and/or using NSClient++ from a script.
• test The famous "debug mode" where you can view the log interactively and debug various issues ranging from connectivity to command syntax.
• settings Manipulate the settings in various forms ranging from migrate between format and stores as well as settings values.
• service Control the service (on windows) with options such as install/uninstall as well as start and stop.
• help Get help on available options and modes.
• <short hand tag> There is a set of short hands for using various built-in modules in client mode (this is the same as running nscp client --module <module name>. Avalible (subject to change) short hands are:
  • nrpe (NRPEClient)
  • nscp (NSCPClient)
  • nsca (NSCAClient)
  • eventlog (CheckEventLog)
  • python (PythonScript)
  • py (PythonScript)
  • lua (LuaScript?)
  • syslog (SyslogClient)

client

The main goal of client is to do things you would normally do remotely locally. For instance you would normally run CheckProcess? via check_nrpe from your Nagios machine but you can do the exact same using nscp client --query CheckProcess. This can be useful in many instances such as debugging commands (locally) or executing check_nrpe from a windows machine etc etc.

Client has three (ish) modes of operation:

• --query To execute a query against a module.
• --exec To execute a command against a module.
• --submit To submit a response via any of the passive protocols.

test

This is the famous (?) --test mode of operation which is similar to client in many ways but the main difference is that test mode runs interactively (where as client has to have all commands specified on command line). The main use for test is when you have problems with you monitoring then you can start NSClient++ in test mode and see the errors (which otherwise tends to be difficult to detect)

settings

Used for manipulating the settings store in any conceivable way. Everything from switching context to migrating settings to settings keys and generating documentation.

service

Used for manipulating the windows service.

help

Gives you help (duh).